The Fight for Equal Opportunity: Blacks in America From Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The book is a history of African-American leadership in modern times, with special focus on two magnetic and essential figures in the struggle for racial equality: General Benjamin O. Davis Jr. and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Following an introductory chapter on slavery and the Civil War, the book examines African-American leadership during the two world wars; and the history of civil rights legislation in the twentieth century. It tells how a people who were enslaved for over 240 years came to have one of their own become president of the country that enslaved them and a leader of the free world. The chapters are well-organized and engaging, written for readers of high school or college age, or adults with an interest in the subject matter. Easily accessible footnotes provide references for further study.

As an African-American with a thirty-year record of service in the United States Air Force and a twenty-seven year career with Tuskegee University. I have had the opportunity to make a study of civil rights in the United States. I also served two years as a faculty member of Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery Alabama.